UFC ex lightweight interim champion Dustin Poirier looking for title shot with Miami win over Saint Denis

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UFC ex lightweight interim champion Dustin Poirier looking for title shot with Miami win over Saint Denis   Dustin Poirier (29-8, fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla.) looks to deliver a flawless victory No. 3 ranked UFC lightweight Former interim UFC lightweight champion 15 wins by KO, six via submission 13 first round finishes

Transcript

00:00 Dustin, another fight week but this time no salon quality hair.

00:07 What happened?

00:08 Why the buzz cut?

00:09 Buzzed it off, man.

00:10 I don't know.

00:11 It's time to change it up.

00:12 Time to change it up.

00:13 This fight's an interesting one for you, right?

00:14 Because you've been fighting the top, top guys for a while and now this is a guy low

00:17 in the rankings, this young prospect coming up.

00:20 And you've always said, "Oh, I need a guy to make me sort of fearful to get me back

00:23 in that cage."

00:24 Did you see this guy as someone who can do that or was it, "Hey, the name came across

00:27 the desk.

00:28 I felt like fighting.

00:29 I'm going to fight."

00:30 No, it was because he's finished his last five opponents.

00:33 He's a very dangerous guy, young, gritty, just a tough, tough guy.

00:39 And he's earned his shot to crack into the top of the division.

00:43 I respect what we do and that's just how it goes.

00:46 When you look at things to, I don't know if you need any motivation necessarily, but do

00:50 you look at it as like, "Oh, he's a guy who called for me.

00:52 He wanted to test himself against someone like me and it's up to me to let him know

00:55 that you're nearly there but not quite yet.

00:57 I'm still at the top."

00:58 Yeah, it's a challenge to myself as well.

01:01 That's how I went about training camp and part of the reason I took this fight.

01:05 It's like, "Let me see.

01:06 Let me show and see to myself that I still got it to fight these warriors who bring it

01:13 every time, have that never say die, never quit attitude."

01:18 Those kind of fights are what I want to be a part of.

01:20 I feel like this sort of happens to a bunch of guys every so often where they sort of

01:24 say, "Oh, the end is closer than the beginning is."

01:27 Then suddenly everyone's saying, "Oh, they're about to retire.

01:29 They're about to retire."

01:30 Do you feel like already this week people are sort of looking at you like, "Well, if

01:33 he loses this one, he might just disappear?"

01:34 Yeah, big time.

01:35 I've been seeing people say that a lot.

01:36 I think that's because a week ago I did an interview and somebody asked me, "Is this

01:41 your last fight if it doesn't go your way?"

01:43 I said, "Well, any fight can be my last one, win or lose.

01:45 I've been doing this a long time."

01:47 I think that's where they ran off with that.

01:49 We just got to fight, man.

01:50 We just got to fight Saturday.

01:53 The shocking one for me, I think your plus money for this fight, which has been a while

01:55 since I've seen you as the underdog, especially against a guy lower ranked.

01:58 Does that surprise you?

01:59 Do you feel like, "Oh, classic.

02:00 What have I done for this sport lately?"

02:02 They're looking at the last fight and just making judgments of that.

02:04 Or do you think maybe people are starting to see you as potentially on the way out?

02:08 It could be.

02:09 It could be both.

02:10 I lost my last one.

02:11 He's on a finish streak.

02:14 He's young.

02:15 I'm 35.

02:16 I think he's 28.

02:19 Maybe that's why.

02:20 I don't know.

02:21 I don't make the odds or look into him that much.

02:23 We know what a win does for him, what it does to get a win over you.

02:27 What does a win do for you on Saturday?

02:29 Where does this put you in the division if you knock down this younger guy?

02:31 Where does it put you in the title shot picture and everything like that?

02:34 I think a lot of that depends how I win.

02:37 If it's a big finish or something like that, I believe I'm a win away from a title shot

02:40 with a great performance.

02:44 But it writes the ship.

02:45 It gets me back in the win column and we take it from there.

02:48 I try not to look too far past these fights because Saturday isn't here yet.

02:53 We got to go out there and do the damn thing.

02:54 And then Sunday, that's when we reassess and see really where we're at and what's next.

02:58 Dustin, we're here.

02:59 I can't remember if it was the countdown or an embedded or whatever, but you said something

03:02 along the lines of, "I remember when I wanted my shot and someone gave me a shot and now

03:07 he's looking for his shot."

03:08 So I'm curious, what fight did you go through that you felt like, "This guy is giving me

03:13 my shot," and then you got past it and that catapulted you?

03:16 I think if I had to pinpoint one moment, it might have been when I fought Eddie Alvarez

03:23 in Dallas.

03:24 He was a former world champion.

03:26 I had put a streak together.

03:27 I don't remember exactly where I was record-wise or my last fights before that, but that was

03:31 my opportunity to fight a world champion, a guy who I grew up watching fight in Japan

03:36 on Dream and back when HD Nets were playing fights.

03:41 Eddie's a legend, man, and to stand across from him was like your idols become your rivals

03:47 thing.

03:48 It's like, "Wow, here we are.

03:49 He gave me my shot.

03:50 This legend of the sport gave me my shot."

03:53 From that, I think it was just up, bigger fights, bigger names for me.

03:57 So do you think that he'll go through something like that standing opposite of you because

04:01 you are a name that he wanted to fight specifically?

04:03 Right.

04:04 I don't know.

04:05 I don't know what's going on between his ears, but we'll see.

04:08 Everybody's different.

04:09 What do you make of this?

04:11 There's a lot of lightweight fights coming up, but it does seem like a lot of you, RDA,

04:16 Charles, you're fighting this new generation of fighters.

04:19 RDA's fighting your teammate Gamrod, and Charles is fighting Armin.

04:22 So what do you make of this old guard of lightweight drawing the line in the sand against these

04:27 up-and-coming guys?

04:28 It's great to see.

04:30 It keeps the sport moving, and that's just the way this goes.

04:33 That's the nature of what we do.

04:36 Father time.

04:37 Just one last one from me.

04:39 Can I get your thoughts on the main event between Shawn and Chido?

04:41 Yeah, that's an exciting fight, man.

04:45 I know Shawn is the favorite by the odds makers, but it's a coin toss for me because Chido

04:51 did beat him.

04:52 I don't care what anybody says.

04:55 I'm a fan of both guys.

04:57 I'm excited to watch the fight.

04:58 I actually do have one more.

04:59 You fought a lot of international opponents.

05:02 You fought Habib, you fought Charles.

05:05 Normally when you fight a guy that's that popular from a country, their fans can kind

05:09 of lash out at you, not because they dislike you, but you're fighting their guy.

05:13 Benoit seems incredibly popular in France.

05:16 I'm curious, how have the French fans received you and treated you since this fight was announced?

05:21 Oh man, since the fight was announced, my Twitter and Instagram is full of French fans.

05:30 And I understand.

05:31 I understand.

05:32 Root for your guy, man.

05:33 Just real quick.

05:34 A few weeks ago, you kind of spooked us saying that this bout was off, but then it was shortly

05:41 I guess back on.

05:42 Can you explain to us what happened then?

05:44 Just some miscommunication.

05:45 I don't want to really get into it, but just some miscommunication.

05:48 We got it all figured out.

05:50 And you mentioned if you get a big win on Saturday, you're probably one more fight away

05:54 from fighting for the belt.

05:55 But aside from the belt, is there any sort of side quests or any things that you like

05:59 to cross off from your bucket list, MMA, before it's all said and done?

06:02 Side missions?

06:03 Yep.

06:04 Well, no, the Undisputed World Championship is like the last thing I really, really want

06:09 to do in this sport.

06:10 I feel like I've done a lot.

06:13 Not being boastful or anything, but I've been fighting a long time.

06:15 That's my 30th fight in the UFC.

06:18 I've come up short.

06:20 I've been victorious.

06:22 It's been a long journey.

06:23 I'm thankful, dude.

06:24 I'm in a place where I'm content with everything.

06:27 I'm happy with who I am and the career I've had and being able to provide for my family

06:31 the way I have.

06:32 And just, it's been beautiful, man.

06:34 It's a fight journey.

06:36 And what's beautiful about it to me is I've been fighting for 17 years and I've been surrounded

06:40 by so many guys with the same dreams and even with the same work ethic.

06:47 They get out of this sport broken and broke and beat up.

06:55 I'm just thankful, man.

06:56 Yeah, for sure.

06:57 And as you mentioned, this sport is tough.

07:00 In many ways, you're a winner.

07:01 You've stuck around for a long time, been at the highest level, made good money.

07:05 Have you ever thought about an exit plan?

07:07 Not trying to retire or anything.

07:08 You're looking great.

07:09 But have you ever thought about what your exit from MMA looks like?

07:13 Man, since I started making real money in fighting, I've been slowly putting that together.

07:21 I have so much stuff going on outside of the octagon.

07:26 Businesses that I'm part of, that I own.

07:31 I'm involved in a lot of things outside of fighting.

07:33 So that's already been there for me.

07:36 It's not like I'm fighting because I need this check.

07:37 I'm fighting because I need to fight for me.

07:42 So that's already there.

07:43 Yeah.

07:44 And just a couple more.

07:45 About a year ago or so, we spoke and you told me that 170 was likely going to be a thing

07:50 that you would try.

07:51 Is that still in your mind, like 170 pounds at some point, even if it's a one-off fight?

07:56 I'm not sure, man.

07:57 These guys are big at 170.

07:59 I'm in the training room with them on a daily basis.

08:02 This training camp has been the lightest I've been in a bunch of fights.

08:09 I don't think I'm big enough to fight those guys.

08:13 I would show up ready-weight, 170.

08:16 I would get in the cage at 172, 173.

08:19 These guys would be, you know how big welterweights get, 24 hours, man.

08:23 And last year, at 145 pounds, Ilyato Puria knocked out Aleksandr Volkanovski.

08:28 He's kind of teased about potentially going up to 155.

08:30 You've had that trajectory of being a top dog at 145 and then moving to 155 and having

08:35 that success.

08:36 So I just wanted to get your thoughts on Ilyato Puria's finish and what would you think of

08:40 him at 155?

08:41 Man, brutal.

08:42 I mean, we all know that he possessed those skills and he could do that, but to see it

08:47 happen to Volkanovski that way was crazy, man, because Volk's a legend.

08:52 You know, when I made, not saying that Volk's done by any means, but when I made that switch,

08:56 I was still young in my career, so I had a lot to grow on and kind of build into that

09:00 frame and continue my skill set.

09:02 You know, to see a guy go up in weight, I'm sure he'll have success, but it's just a different

09:06 scenario, you know.

09:08 We'll see.

09:09 Dustin, right here.

09:10 Just to follow up.

09:13 Just to follow up on that, the tweet you made in the miscommunication, Gilbert Burdens came

09:17 out and said Dustin got paid.

09:19 Is there any financial angle to that communication or was it something else entirely?

09:24 It was just misunderstanding, man.

09:29 Fair enough.

09:30 Yeah.

09:31 We don't need to be watching pockets, you know.

09:34 The extra two rounds, is that something that you're a fan of?

09:36 Is that something you've asked for?

09:37 I asked for it.

09:38 Yeah, I asked for it.

09:40 I think the better fighter wins, you know, in the long run.

09:43 Somebody gets caught early, that can happen to either guy, you know, dry.

09:47 Even submission or knockout early can happen, but usually if two men fight for 25 minutes,

09:53 the better fighter wins.

09:54 And I believe I'm the better fighter.

09:57 Last one, very quickly.

09:58 Gaechy, Holloway, BMF title, obviously you've got experience with both.

10:01 What's your pick?

10:02 Fought them both twice, man.

10:03 I know we can't bet, but just judging off the odds, if Max is the dog, you've got to

10:12 go with Max because he can, of course he can get it done.

10:15 That's another coin toss to me, but I think Max's length, his rhythm and striking will

10:21 give Gaechy some problems.

10:22 And people think Max is small.

10:24 Max isn't a small guy.

10:25 Thank you.

10:26 Dustin, over here.

10:27 A lot of the outside noise about you before was, hey, Dustin doesn't fight those lower

10:31 rank guys, and now here we are, you're about to do so.

10:34 So is there anything else you want to prove on Saturday night, or is that just all outside

10:37 noise that you kind of just mute out?

10:39 That's all outside noise.

10:41 I fight everybody.

10:42 I fight whoever.

10:43 Just the last stretch of my career has been big fights, you know, big opportunities.

10:50 What does it make sense to go back down the line and whenever I have these huge opportunities

10:54 in front of me?

10:55 You know, obviously losing this fight, the division kind of being tied up the way it

10:58 is, it makes sense.

10:59 Like I said, I respect what we do.

11:01 I honor this, man.

11:02 That's just part of the process, fighting guys like this.

11:05 And I've done it before.

11:06 You know, I went from a title fight to fighting Dan Hooker five rounds, you know, who was

11:11 on the street, who had just main evented in his home.

11:15 I've done it before.

11:16 That's just the way the game goes.

11:17 And how does this home fight week feel to you?

11:20 I know you're not too far from here and also you're sharing the car with Gamrat, someone

11:23 you've been training with a lot.

11:24 So how does that all feel going into it?

11:25 Yeah, me and Gamrat, we're like the main training partners, this training camp.

11:28 It just worked out because he's, you know, he does a lot of his work, Southpaw.

11:32 He's fighting a Southpaw.

11:33 So it was perfect timing, bro.

11:35 We pushed each other and had some great, great sessions.

11:38 It's awesome.

11:39 You know, this is the first time in a long time that I drive to the fight.

11:42 You know, I drove an hour from Coconut Creek to Miami.

11:46 It's great not hopping on planes and being in familiar territory, seeing my coaches,

11:51 seeing Gamrat here, Pedro Munoz, guys I see in the gym every day.

11:55 It's awesome.

11:56 I feel good.

11:57 And last one, real quick.

11:58 I know you probably get asked about this a lot, but Conor's state right now, Conor McGregor,

12:01 do you think we'll see him fight again given the situation he's around in?

12:04 Or is that just...

12:05 Bro, who knows?

12:06 Who knows?

12:07 I'm a fan of the sport.

12:09 So anytime that guy fights, you know, I'm watching.

12:13 But your guess is as good as mine.

12:14 Who knows if he ever comes back?

12:16 Yeah, Dustin, just can you quickly go through the process of when you're about to go in

12:23 a war?

12:24 Because Benoit said that like three hours before the fight, he's like he goes beast

12:28 mode.

12:29 Nobody, nothing exists except on the fight.

12:31 What's your mental process when you know you're going to have a war in a few hours or minutes?

12:38 I don't have like a routine or anything that I do.

12:40 I just kind of chill out.

12:42 My wife gets here tomorrow.

12:45 Keep it familiar the way I've been doing it this whole time.

12:47 You know, the sun's out, I might go out by the water.

12:51 Just relax.

12:52 I take it easy.

12:53 Thank you.

12:54 Thank you, guys.

12:57 It's going down.

13:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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